


Anastatica

by fowo



Category: One Piece
Genre: M/M, jumping on the "They met as children" bandwagon because it's frigging adorable ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-25
Updated: 2014-08-25
Packaged: 2018-02-14 16:34:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2199018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fowo/pseuds/fowo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A snippet about two boys.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Anastatica

**Author's Note:**

> No native speaker so bear with me.
> 
> I realize I completely ignored the entire Corazon-matter but let's be serious, without the flashback it's kind of futile to go too much into that.

Under the hot desert sun stands a boy, black hair combed back, golden eyes hidden under deep brow bones. The brows above are so delicate and thin, and almost arched downward. It makes him look stern, and jaded, and just a little sad.

 Doflamingo stares, openly.

 He's always been all smiles, smiles and laughter at everything, at violence and blood and gore and all the stuff no adult would ever want a ten-year old boy laugh at. It makes him a lonely child, and he doesn't mind. He has no family left, he  _hates_  his family. Still, somewhere deep inside, already there is the plan to make a new one, a better one. Filled only with people he values, who are useful to him, who he truly cares about. Truly a family he  _chose_ , not one he was by some twisted thread of fate born into.

 Looking at the boy with the black hair makes this wish a little stronger and a little more real. "Hey, you," he shouts, taking big steps with his still little legs to cross the distance between them.

 The boy turns, looks down at him. No change in his expression but a little twitch in the muscles above the bridge of his nose, the frown deepening just for a second. "Go away." His voice is calm and deep, even for his age.

 "I killed my father," Doflamingo says, as a test.

 The boy passes. He does nothing. His expression doesn't change. Doflamingo takes a liking to him instantly.

 "Can't be long till they find him. I think I'm in trouble if I stay here any longer," he cheerily continues. "I really oughtta get outta here. I think I might wanna start a pirate crew. You wanna come?"

_Now_  there's a glint in the boy's eyes. It makes Doflamingo's heart skip a beat, an unknown, weird feeling that he misses already the second it's gone. And then there's little laugh.

 "Kuhaha." There is a little wrinkle in the corner of his mouth when he laughs, even now that his face is without blemish, just a little dirty. It will still be there some thirty years later. It's one of the nooks Doflamingo would grow to cherish with every fiber of his being. "You've got some nerve to ask  _me_." He takes the hem of his shirt, expensive-looking but well-worn, and flashes Doflamingo the bare skin underneath. And with it, the flintlock tucked into his belt.

 Doflamingo feels his jaw drop. "You're a pirate?!"

 The boy covers his mouth quickly with his right hand, a movement Doflamingo would later on not take so slightly anymore, with it being a deadly weapon. Now, it's just the grip of an older child. A ring on his index finger, golden with a gemstone and looking little too big yet, buries itself painfully into the soft skin of Doflamingo's upper lip.

 "Shut up. Do you want everyone to know?" His face was now close to Doflamingo's, the words hissed past pointy canines.

 Sensing that not obeying would get him nowhere, Doflamingo falls silent and shakes his head a little. The older boy releases him, carefully. "What's your name?" Doflamingo asks, curiosity real and keen. "Are you here with your nakama? I've never seen you before. Have you—"

"You talk too much," the older boy interrupts him without even considering to answer one of the many questions.

"Fufufu. That's what my dad said, and look what it got him." The smile is wide and eerie, creeping up at the edges to be a derision of humor. It's a grimace. It's teeth and blood lust. The boy looks at him, his expression telling him nothing. Doflamingo wonders if he's afraid of him like everyone else.

"He was a weak man then, " the boy finally says. His voice is calm. There is no fear underneath it. He truly means what he says.

Doflamingo's smile becomes a grotesque laugh. "He was!" he shouts, rising his arms to the sky. "So I took off his head, just like that. The world is no place for weak men!"

He did it. There it is again: that little smile, the faint dimple next to it. The boy grins at him. "I agree."

 "We should hook up then!" Doflamingo says again. "Let's erase all weak men off the seas!"

Just when he thought they'd made a connection, the older boy scoffs at him. "Why should I team up with someone who's weaker than me?" he says and folds his arms. "That would go against the principle of the thing. "

"But I'm strong!" It comes out almost as a wail. He  _is_  but a child after all.

 The boy smiles down at him, condescending. "Maybe. But small. I can spit over your head without trying."

 "Duh, you're older than me!"

 "If you start using excuses like that you might want to think of erasing yourself from these seas before anyone else." The boy gives a wave, wiping away a loose strand of hair from his face. "I have no time to be sticking around the likes of you."

 Doflamingo sees him turn to leave, and he doesn't want him to, and he brings up his hands. His strings are still shaky and unsure, but they worked on his father, they will work on a kid as well.

 And just when he twitches his index finger, the boy turns again. The threads miss his throat by millimeters. "Crocodile," he says.

 Still paralyzed from the vision of the boy's head hitting the floor, spilling blood and brains everywhere, Doflamingo looks up. "What?"

 "Don't make me repeat myself," the boy says, frown deepening again. "That's my name. You better not forget it. I'm going to be the one who kills the Pirate King and claims the title."

The smile finds its way back to Doflamingo's face. "Crocodile, huh? Sure as hell won't."

 Crocodile looks at him, turns around again and then leaves. Doflamingo lets him. It's probably the highest sign of affection he can show, for now.

 

 


End file.
